Why hasn't Blizzard confronted AutoHotKey and BOTing

Community General Discussion
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The amount of people using Auto Hotkey with GSE and/or a BOT script has got to the point of epidemic. I saw a video like 5 months ago of someone using AHK and GSE together and all they did was hold down one button… they dominated DPS parses and PVP Arenas.

They hold down ONE BUTTON and GSE cycles through all of their spells in the order you tell it to. GSE itself is fine and approved by Blizzard if used properly… as it is one button one action. But when they add AHK it is absolutely cheating. Their is an entire site dedicated to creating AHK/GSE scripts for people to cheat.

Blizzard, you need to do something. Obviously if you could detect 3rd party software for MultiBoxers you can detect this. My guildmate says you will never ever ban any accounts for using it because it so so widely used that you would lose too much money.

Clean the game up and do the right thing.

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Your guildmate is incredibly wrong.

They do ban them, but bitters can move faster and reconfigure and steal accounts faster than any company can react to it.

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They do not proactively scan accounts for banned multiboxing software. They follow up on reports.

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So they can’t detect if someone is using like isboxer or AHK? The only way they find out is from others reporting? Is that what you are saying?

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  1. Posting information on how to cheat/exploit is not allowed on the forums.

  2. AutoHotKey and Multiboxing programs ARE detected and people banned for it. Even having AHK running when you use WoW can land you in hot water.

  3. They won’t catch everyone, and as fast as they ban accounts, some people are up and running again. Welcome to the never ending cat and mouse that is cheaters and anti-cheat detection.

Incorrect. Detection of prohibited software is a function of their anti-cheat systems. Warden is the best known one, but that does not mean there are not other means too. Reports are also useful for the Hacks team, but is not the only thing they use. Reports help them find new variations on software and methods that can be added to the detection software. Much like antivirus software updates definitions.

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I’m curious, is this documented anywhere? AHK has a ton of legitimate uses, and I’ve even got people on my team who use it for stuff like mimicking form fills and whatnot while developing… who also play WoW.

They don’t seem to have had any problems, but I also don’t know how diligent they are about turning it on / off… if it’s like how they are with other stuff, then probably not very. :smiley:

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Documented officially? Not that I know of other than the policy to not automate anything. However we have seen quite a few posts in CS about being suspended and the only thing going was AHK, even though not being used in WoW at the time.

The advice regs give these days is to make sure it is turned off totally when running a Blizzard game. Check to make sure all AHK processes are closed.

Blues don’t approve or remove those comments…and point out that AHK can be used to automate cast sequences and such.

I would recommend they make sure it is off before playing.

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One anecdotal experience does not equate to epidemic. Less hyperbole.

Banning does happen. And if it WAS as serious of an epidemic as you claim, to the point of affecting players from leaderboards and rewards, you best believe we would’ve heard about it already and a big sweeping statement would have been made, as has been the case in the past.

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Hmm, I will probably just make a point to tell them to be mindful of it then, no point in rolling the dice for no reason!

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